The Ore Truck


Name: Resource Harvester
Manufacturer: Kazminov Design Bureau
Country of origin: USSR
Mass-produced at: Soviet War Factory / Naval Yard

Key features:

• Reactive armour
• Detachable water-sensitive pontoons
• Canopy-shaped cockpit
• Rugged cargo hopper



The Soviet Union’s almost irresponsible military spending meant the nation had to quickly fill its coffers with resources that could be put directly towards production. Consequently, fleets of vehicles known simply as Ore Trucks became a common sight in resource-rich areas. Some say that the modern Ore Truck symbolises several aspects of Soviet ideology (excluding an obsession with heavy Artillery): After all, every Ore Truck is dutifully assembled by loyal Soviet men, women and children, using recycled parts salvaged from other Soviet vehicles destroyed on the battlefield. In this sense, every Ore Truck embodies the pride and indomitable loyalty of the Soviet spirit, despite being relegated to the rather thankless and monotonous task of transporting vast quantities of ore between mines and neighbouring Tiberium Refineries.


Soviet Ore Trucks were military vehicles in a previous life. Now, they are relegated to the important-yet still enviable-task of slowly collecting large quantities of ore over short distances.

One can scarcely begin to imagine the hodgepodge of spare parts from other vehicles used to assemble each Ore Truck: their cockpits are based on the same bubble-shaped canopies used on the Anti-Aircraft Guns and on the Troop Crawler created by the Design Bureau Kazminov corporation: the KDB-2 Bullfrog; their detachable pontoons are taken from resold Spoutnik reconnaissance vehicles; their reactive armour is composed of an alloy of plates from the Hammer Tank and the Apocalypse Tank; Their cargo skips are made from the recycled fuselages of downed MiG fighter aircraft, etc. Each Ore Truck is manufactured with the utmost care, and the designated Conductor of each Ore Truck is given a framed, commemorative list of the names and addresses of all the loyal Soldiers whose vehicle parts were used to create that particular unit. Ironically, despite the Ore Truck’s original and rather conservative design principle, each one turns out to be quite expensive to manufacture, partly due to all the formality and ceremony surrounding the respectful use of recycled vehicle parts.


Allied military officials destroyed the ‘deceptively cute’ design of the Soviet Ore Truck, a ploy to prevent these vehicles from causing harm in combat situations – a ploy that failed.

The Harvesters are unarmed to keep costs down and to meet the minimum standard for employing Civilian Conductors who are devoted to the Communist cause but, for various reasons, unable to fight on the front lines like their braver comrades who sacrifice themselves on the battlefield. The Soviet Union launched an expensive and complex publicity campaign which recruited Harvester conductors into the ranks of the growing number of Soviet patriots, promising that volunteer conductors would not be imprisoned for criticising the Soviet Command for failing to enlist them in the military. These conductors were also assured of their personal safety, thanks to the Ore Truck’s ability to deploy its full armour, which can easily withstand 70mm tank shells. Individuals with a particular aptitude for mathematics were required at the ‘quietest’ ore extraction points, where they could easily put their skills to use in tallying up the vast sums of resources they themselves would be contributing for the good of their country. This gave these men a bit of legitimate work to do whilst on the job, between harvesting and defending themselves against Allied offensives.

One outspoken critic once penned a notorious 17-page paper on the Soviet Union’s military engagements entitled ‘On the Stupidity of Excessive Reliance on Ore Harvesting’, in which he lambasted the Union’s strategy of using spare vehicle parts to create Ore Trucks, as opposed to new army vehicles. He resolved to reveal the link between ore refining and military production, but sadly died of natural causes before he could reveal his secret. In any case, Ore Trucks continue to be deployed on the Soviet front lines.


Reconnaissance on the battlefield has at least revealed the following facts about the Ore Trucks:

• Replacement if damaged– Each Soviet Ore Refinery is assigned its own Ore Truck, which can normally operate without direct supervision. If this vehicle becomes inoperable for any reason, the Tiberium Refinery has enough spare parts to build another one. Naturally, Soviet War Factories and Naval Yards can also assemble additional Ore Trucks if necessary.

-Reactive Armour- If attacked, Ore Trucks' conductors are sensible enough to make use of their reactive armour, which envelops the vehicle in a thick metallic shell. However, they are discouraged from using this defensive measure because it prevents them from carrying out their primary duty of gathering ore.

-Drive with care- Whilst they lack weapons, Ore Trucks are not entirely defenceless and could run over anyone careless enough to stand in their way. Ore Truck drivers are known to resort to this as a last resort, and some have even accidentally killed enemy combatants in this way whilst blindly attempting to manoeuvre the vehicle with its reactive armour.

-Amphibious resupply - Like their cousins, the Spoutnik reconnaissance vehicles, Ore Trucks can switch to aquatic mode upon contact with water at a depth of at least one metre.